Iraqi Forces Gain Ground in Mosul Battle, Seven Months On

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The troops’ progress has been slow as about 400,000 civilians, or a quarter of Mosul’s pre-war population, are trapped in the Old City, according to the UN.

A member of the Iraqi federal police takes his rifle to hang it on his shoulder in an area controlled by Iraqi forces fighting the ISIS in western Mosul, Iraq, April 12, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Andres Martinez Casares/Files

Mosul: Iraqi forces gained ground in door-to-door fighting in the Old City of Mosul, a military spokesman said on April 17, as the US-backed offensive to capture ISIS’s de facto capital in Iraq entered its seventh month.

A Reuters correspondent saw thick smoke billowing over the Old City, near the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, from where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” spanning parts of Iraq and Syria.

Heavy exchanges of gunfire and mortar rounds could be heard from the neighbourhoods facing the old city across the Tigris river that bisects Mosul into a western and eastern sides.

The war between ISIS militants and Iraqi forces is taking a heavy toll on several hundred thousand civilians trapped inside the city, with severely malnourished babies reaching hospitals in government-held areas.

“They are being shot at, there are artillery barrages, families are running out of supplies, medicines are scarce and water is cut-off.”

Motorbike attacks

More than 327,000 have fled fighting since the offensive operation started on October 17, with strong air and ground support from a US-led coalition. “Mosul has pushed us to our operational limits,” Grande said.

Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, was captured by the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim fighters in mid 2014.

Government forces, including army, police and elite counter terrorism units have taken back most of it, including the half that lies east of the Tigris river.

The militants are now surrounded in the northwestern quarter including the historic Old City, using booby traps, sniper and mortar fire against the assailants.

Police on Sunday reported a toxic gas attack on its troops that caused no deaths. It also said the militants were increasingly using suicide motorbikes attacks.

The narrow alleyways restricts the use of suicide cars by the militants and tanks, armoured personnel carriers and Humvees by the government forces.

The UN said last month that 12 people, including women and children, had been treated for possible exposure to chemical weapons agents in Mosul. But Iraq’s UN ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, said later there was no evidence for that.

The fighting has killed several thousands among civilians and fighters on both sides, according to aid organisations.

Residents who have managed to escape from the Old City have said there is almost nothing to eat but flour mixed with water and boiled wheat grain. What little food remains is too expensive for most residents to afford, or kept for ISIS members and their supporters.

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